A Warm Light
by Pengi13
Summary: After breaking up with her boyfriend, Bethany Miller has a one night stand with a stranger who turns out to be none other than Loki of Asgard. The story begins before Thor is exiled to Earth and follows the plot of the Avengers movie and so on. Rated M for some strong language, controversial topics and sexual content.
1. Chapter 1

Bethany Miller was a typical woman, if there was such a thing, she liked watching romantic comedies, she enjoyed a nice glass of wine and a night out with the girls. She also enjoyed activities that a typical woman might not enjoy, such as, computer programming and hacking. Her boyfriend, Pete, fancied himself the modern-day Robin Hood and he accomplished this by hacking into corporate bank accounts and donating large sums of money to random charities. Beth was his Maiden Marion. Or at least, that's what he called her. Truthfully, she was the better hacker and at the moment, they were arguing about just that.

"Are you serious, Pete? If it wasn't for me, you would've been arrested years ago." Beth said as she sipped her mocha. Pete just rolled his eyes, he was too preoccupied trying to hack into Stark Industries to come up with a good comeback.

He groaned in frustration as he was blocked by another security feature.

"Ugh, this security system is impossible to break through," he breathed in exasperation.

Beth handed him her coffee and slid his laptop in front of her.

"Watch and learn, Grasshopper." She smirked as she rested her fingers on the keyboard.

Beth swiftly began to streak passed the Stark Industries firewalls.

"When jiggling the handle fails, sometimes you gotta break a window." she said plugging away on the keyboard.

Pete smiled as they began to pour through the company finances, "I'll admit you're good."

Beth smirked, but then she noticed something interesting. Her program tapped into something that wasn't Stark Industries wallet.

"Well hello..." she said as she opened a folder.

* * *

Meanwhile, at Stark Industries, Jarvis just informed Tony Stark of the breach in security.

"Sir, there appears to be a security breach in our system," the AI said.

This peaked Tony's interest.

"You mean someone got by you?"

"Yes, sir. They have managed to get by most of my firewalls and I'm afraid to say they have just gained access to some files pertaining to the Avengers Initiative."

Tony pulled up his holographic computer screens, "now, we can't have that."

* * *

"At least make it a challenge for me," Beth chuckled as someone began to try to block her access.

Pete was starting to get antsy, "come on, Beth. Let's go."

"Just a second..." Beth said to him. Whoever was on the other side was proving to be a challenge and she liked a challenge.

Suddenly, the laptop snapped shut.

"Hey!"

Pete shoved it back in his bag.

"It's time to go."

She grabbed her coat off the back of the back of the chair and followed him out of the coffee shop.

"What was that?!" Beth asked as he got into his car. She opened the passenger side door and glared at him.

"You almost destroyed everything I've worked so hard for." he said turning over the key.

"You've worked so hard for? YOU'VE WORKED FOR?! I'VE BEEN THERE EVERY STEP OF THE WAY! IF IT WASN'T FOR ME-!"

"If it wasn't for you, I would have never gotten the idea to use the charity accounts for my own benefit."

Beth blinked as she registered what he had just told her.

"Y-you're benefit?"

Pete scoffed, "you really think I would have hacked into all of those corporations if there wasn't some gain to me?"

"I can't believe you..." She hissed as she shut the car door, "I never want to see you again."

She watched Pete drive off without another word. Beth pulled out her phone and dialed her friend's number.

"Hey, Jessica... Pete and I just broke up."

* * *

In another realm, Loki was brooding over another of his brother's triumphs. Soon, he would inherit the throne from their father. He watched as Thor and his band of warrior friends celebrated there most recent victory. It positively made him sick. Loki scowled as he slunk through the shadows past their jubilation. He wished to leave this place that only served to mock him. The God of Mischief smirked, and he knew just where he wanted to leave to.

* * *

As soon as Bethany had told her friend of her break up, Jessica had called together all of their girlfriends to have a night on the town. Beth was sitting on her bed as Jessica searched through her closet for an outfit that Beth could borrow for the fun night of clubbing she had in store for them.

"I don't know Jessica, I think it's a little soon to put me on the rebound trail." Beth sighed.

Jessica reappeared with an armful of dresses.

"Nonsense, the scummier the guy, the sooner the rebound and I'm sorry but Pete was as scummy as they come, Beth. Here try this one on."

Mary and Lydia nodded in agreement from their spot on Jessica's dresser. Mary was filing her nails as Lydia reapplied her lip gloss.

Beth rolled her eyes as she took the skimpy garment. She slid herself into the dress and modeled it for her friends who nodded approvingly.

"I don't know about finding a rebound though..." she said as she slipped on some heels.

"Oh, we'll find one." Lydia said brushing out her hair.

Mary nodded, "we ready to go ladies?"

Jessica smiled smiled as she reemerged from her closet in a tight little number as well.

"Move out!"

Hours later at one of the clubs the girls were dancing at, Jessica spotted a guy eyeing Beth from across the room.

"Hey, hottie at 3 o'clock is checking you out." she said in her ear.

Beth turned away from the bar to look at who she was talking about. How could she miss him? She could see him standing in solitude with his back against the wall watching her and her friends with interest. She couldn't help but feel that this tall man in sleek black clothes seemed out of place in this loud, bustling club. He looked as though he belonged in an expensive gentleman's club or fashion magazine.

"If you don't go talk to him, I will," Mary said devouring the man with her eyes.

Lydia and Beth both shook there heads.

"She should let him approach her," Lydia said giggling as she sipped her drink.

Beth just felt like going home as her friends flounced away to the dance floor.

Suddenly, Beth felt someone leaning heavily against her. She looked over and saw a very drunk man eyeing her.

"How about I buy you a drink?" he slurred.

She rolled her eyes, "Not interested."

He grabbed her arm as she made a move to walk away.

"Hey, hey, hey, don't be like that." He said.

She wrinkled her nose as he breathed on her. She pulled her arm out of his grasp and walked out of the club. To her dismay, he followed her.

"Where you goin'?" He asked stumbling after her.

"I told you, I'm not interested."

He draped his arm over her shoulders and wiggled his eyebrows suggestively, "that's okay because I'm interested enough for the both of us."

As she scoffed and rolled her eyes, a voice came from behind them.

"I do believe the lady said she wasn't interested."

Beth turned and saw that it was the man she and her friends saw from across the club. He held himself with an aristocratic air as he looked condescendingly at the other man and placed a hand on her lower back.

The smaller man cursed, "Hey what's the big idea, man? I saw her first!"

The second man smirked, "au-contraire, but I do believe it twas I who saw her first. Now leave before I do something to you that we'll both regret."

Whether it was the confident way the man next to her spoke or that the drunker man realized she wasn't worth the time, the man retreated back into the deafening club.

Beth sighed a sigh of relief as she turned to the man next to her, "thanks for that."

The man smiled charmingly as he bowed his head, "it was pleasure, milady."

Beth felt her cheeks redden from his over politeness.

"Seriously, I can't thank you enough."

He smirked as she realized his hand was still resting on the small of her back.

"I'm sure we can come up with something..."

Before she knew it, Beth and this mystery man were back at her apartment, peeling off each other's clothes and groping their way to her bedroom as they also locked lips with one another. When they reached the bed, she pulled him down on top of her as the last of both of their clothes fell to the floor.

For the next hour she was in ecstasy like she had never known. This man knew every little thing to do to get her going and eventually they climaxed together both out of breath. She lay on his chest for a moment before rolling off of him. She looked over at his face and in the dim light she could just barely make out a smile playing across his lips. She sighed and closed her eyes not noticing her mystery guest getting up and showing himself out moments later. His bright green eyes solidifying her resting figure in his memory forever.

* * *

The next morning, Beth rolled over to discover the man from the night before was gone. She knew it was probably better this way, but she at least wished she could have given him her number, he did after all give her the best sex she had ever experienced.

She rolled out of bed and went to the shower.

As she got out, she heard someone ring the doorbell. She quickly got dressed and ran to the door.

"Who is it?"

"Tony Stark," a suave voice replied from the other side.

She felt her belly flip as she looked through the peephole and saw that it was indeed the famous Tony Stark. She opened the door and gave him her sweetest smile.

"Tony Stark, for what do I owe the pleasure?"

Tony Stark entered her apartment with a confident air as if he owned the place.

"Yesterday I tracked down a certain Peter Hibbert... I had reason to believe that he had hacked into Stark Industries."

Beth closed her front door and smiled at the billionaire.

"Pete's always been one to get into trouble. I'm not sure how this pertains to me. We recently broke up."

Stark smirked, "well then imagine my surprise when he says that it was you who hacked into my company from a local coffee shop. I had a little look at the shop's security footage and low and behold he was telling the truth."

Beth hung her head, "Are you going to turn me in?"

"Actually, I was going to offer you a job."

She looked up at him.

"I took the liberty of looking in to you. You seem like a good kid, top of your class at NYU, there's nothing on your permanent record, and your hacking skills even gave me a run for my money."

"Thank you, Mr. Stark," she said hardly believing what was happening.

Stark held out his card, which she took still stunned, "I understand that my offer is something that you probably want to think about. Just know the pay is fair and you'll be able to work from just about anywhere."

"I'll definitely think about it, Mr. Stark..." Beth said following him back to her front door.

"I'll be in touch."

Beth closed the door behind him and then looked at his business card.

"I'm sure you will," she said lowly.

Leave it to Pete to throw her under the bus, but it looks like beneath the bus wasn't so bad. Now she had to figure out if she wanted to take the job, which she didn't fail to notice that Stark didn't tell her any details about the job, but she could only imagine that it had to do with her hacking skills.

* * *

Two months later, Beth Miller was fully on the Stark Industries payroll as Stark's "assistant." Really, she was helping him hack into a military organization called "S.H.E.I.L.D." She didn't quite understand, but Stark explained it as they were "borrowing" information that someone named Fury would eventually share, but he wanted to know sooner.

"Hey buttercup, how's it going?" Stark (or as Beth was beginning to get use to call him, Tony) said as he came into his penthouse from the balcony after one of his "outings." He smiled at her as he slipped on his blazer.

She smiled back, she was beginning to enjoy Stark's snarky humor.

"Well Tony, I perfected your decryption program."

Stark frowned as he fiddled with one of his cufflinks, "how do you prefect something that's already perfect?"

Beth sighed as she saw Pepper walk into the room, "I just helped it be less detectable. Hi Pepper."

"Hi Beth," Pepper said sweetly and then turned to Tony as she added, "I was unaware Tony was having you come in today."

"It's fine, I really don't mind the overtime. Time and a half right? Oh..."

The two turned to Beth in concern as she placed her hand on her belly.

"You okay there buttercup? Not coming down with something right? Because that would be very unfortunate if you got me sick." Tony said which lead to him getting smacked by Pepper.

"No, no, I'm fine..." Beth said getting up and walking to the nearest bathroom, "must be that chicken I ate..."

"Yeah... Jarvis do a full scan on Beth please." Tony said as they heard Beth throw up.

"Yes sir." the AI said.

After a moment, Beth re-emerge from the bathroom, "Seriously it's not contagious. Just some bad chicken."

"I really want to believe that, Buttercup," Tony said pointing at her, "but I'll only believe it when Jarvis says so. Jarvis?"

"Well, Miss Bethany is right about one thing. She isn't contagious."

"But?"

Tony, Pepper and Beth all said in unison.

"Miss Bethany appears to be experiencing heightened levels of progesterone and hCG from her syncytiotroblasts."

"Meaning?" Beth said looking rather annoyed.

"You're pregnant," Pepper said amazed.

Stark looked at her with raised Eyebrows. Pepper shrugged, "what? I took some Biology in college."

"You've got to be kidding me." Beth groaned.

"Congrats?" Tony said awkwardly, "Whose the lucky guy?"

Beth sunk in a chair, "I'd like to know the same thing..."

Tony winced, "Oh..."

Pepper shot him a dirty look before looking back at Beth, "why don't you take the rest of the day off Beth?"

Beth nodded.

"Yeah..."

* * *

Meanwhile, Thor was meeting with Heimdall on the rainbow bridge.

"What is it Heimdall?"

"I have news of Loki that I believe will interest you," said the guardian of the bifrost.

"You have found Loki? You mean he is not dead?" Thor said in disbelief, "where is he?"

"I spotted him in Midgard. It appears he has made allies with the Chitauri."

Thor gripped Mjolnir tighter.

"I must get to Earth."

* * *

Beth stood nervously in the women's clinic. She looked down at the pamphlet. She knew this was the right thing for her to do. There was no way she could raise a child, let alone alone.

"Bethany Miller?" Beth turned to see a nurse holding her chart, "we're ready for you."

Beth began to follow the nurse into a sterile room where she saw the doctor was already waiting for her. He smiled warmly at her.

Something made Beth stop in the doorway, she rested her hand on her stomach.

"Please, have a seat Miss Miller," the doctor said kindly.

"Umm..." Beth took a slight step back, for the first time she actually felt it move, "I'm sorry, I can't do this. Sorry..."

She rushed out of the clinic. Beth hailed a taxi and jumped in.

"Where to, lady?"

"Stark Tower."

When Beth returned to Stark Tower she passed a man in suit coming out of the elevator. Beth could tell he was some sort of federal agent.

He nodded at her in acknowledgement.

"Miss Miller."

She looked at him surprised, "I'm sorry, have we met?"

He held out his hand, "Agent Coulson. I work for S.H.E.I.L.D. I believe your boss Mr. Stark hired you to steal our secrets."

"Oh... Yeah..." Beth said sheepishly as the elevator doors opened. She backed into the elevator and hit the button for her floor, "nice meeting you Agent."

When she stepped out of the elevator, she looked at Tony and Pepper who were sipping champagne, "I assume you already know who I had the pleasure of meeting downstairs."

Beth stopped smiling when she saw their serious expressions.

"What's wrong?"

"You remember the Avengers Initiative, right Beth?" Tony said pulling up his holographic screens. Beth looked at them and saw footage people on the screens. She recognized a few as the green monster known as "the Hulk" and the Asgardian called Thor who recently was in New Mexico. Then there were a few others that she didn't recognize apart from what she read in some of the files she skimmed through during her hacking sessions.

"Yeah, I remember."

"Apparently S.H.E.I.L.D. wants me to join them to help fight some joker who thinks he's better than us." Tony said flicking another image on his screens.

Beth looked at the photo and when she saw who it was she gasped. She sunk into a nearby chair with one hand on her mouth the other on her belly. It was him.

"His name is Loki, he's another Asgardian like Thor." Tony looked over at her as she stared at his face, "I take it you know him."

She nodded.

"What do you want me to do?"

"I wanted you to help hunt him down with your skills. Have into all the surveillance footage you can. I need to read up on as much as I can on this Tesseract."

Beth looked at another screen showing a glowing blue cube.

"I'll find him. Do you want me to hack into S.H.E.I.L.D. for this as well?" Beth said opening her laptop.

Tony went over to the bar and poured himself a stronger drink than champagne.

"Do whatever you got to do. Let's find this son of a bitch."

As she began to pluck away on her keyboard, Pepper came over to her side.

"Are you sure you're OK?"

"Yeah, I'm fine. What made you think otherwise?" Beth said as she felt her throat contract slightly.

"Well, you seemed deeply affected by seeing Loki's photo..."

Beth stopped typing briefly as she looked over at Tony, whom she could tell was listening as he looked at his screens.

"That's him." Beth said softly as a tear rolled down her cheek. She wiped it vigorously away as she began to pull up various camera footage from around the globe.

"That's the father of my baby."

"I thought you were getting an abortion?" Pepper whispered.

Beth shook her head, "I changed my mind."

"And now?"

"This is as much my child as it is his. I've made my decision and I'm going to stick by it."

Pepper looked at her solemnly before getting up and leaving. Beth ignored the look she was receiving from Tony as she poured over the different security footage on her screen.

Hours later she looked up at Tony who looked like he was studying something intensely.

"Tony," he looked over at her, "I found Loki. He's in Berlin."

He shut down all of his screens with just one flick of his wrist and began walking for the elevator. She got up and followed him.

At the door, he turned and looked at her.

"Where do you think you're going?" He asked.

"I'm going with you," Beth said seriously.

"I need you here and besides I don't think where I'm going is a place for ladies sporting baby bumps, buttercup."

She put her hand to her abdomen and looked at him earnestly. Tony rested his hand on hr shoulder.

"We'll get him, okay? Use my computer to keep tabs with me and watch my back from here."

"Okay..." Beth said with a half smile.

Tony gave him her infamous Stark smirk as he stepped into the elevator.

"Oh, and tell Pepper I said to have a safe flight."

Beth smiled as she watched the doors close. She walked over to the sofa and activated Stark's holographic computer screens.

As she saw the Iron Man suit rocket away she cracked her knuckles and said, "okay, Jarvis, let's get to work."


	2. Chapter 2

Beth watched on the monitors as Iron Man entered the battle in Germany with of course his own Tony Stark flair. She chuckled as Tony overrode the S.H.E.I.L.D. PA system and started blasting AC/DC.

"Show off." she said to herself sitting back in her chair. She then turned her attention back to the man gold and emerald Asgardian armor that lay sprawled on the stone courtyard. He sat up as Iron Man aimed his mini arsenal at him.

"Make your move reindeer games."

Beth watched with bated breath as Lori raised his hands. His armor disappeared.

Tony lowered his weapons, "good move."

The man called Captain America lowered his shield, "Mr. Stark."

"Captain."

Beth paced around Tony's penthouse as she watched them shackle Loki and load have on the quinjett.

"No, no, no. Tony I got a bad feeling about this. He surrendered way too easily."

Tony spoke into his earpiece, "relax Buttercup, you're over thinking things. It's probably all of your hormones making you paranoid."

Steve Rogers looked questioningly at him but Tony just waved him off.

"Reindeer Games got nothing on us."

Beth sighed as she sat back down.

"Alright... But I still feel like that was too easy."

She watched through Tony's visor as the quinjet took off. But as Tony lowered his helmet, so to went her visual on the situation. All she had to go on was his GPS locator now and whatever satellite relay she was able to tap into. At least she still had audio.

The captain and Tony were bantering in the back of the quinjet.

"I don't like it." Rogers said seriously.

"What? Rock of Ages giving up so easily?" Tony replied, Beth rolled her eyes at his nickname for Loki.

"I told you Tony, Loki's up to something." Beth said into her headset. Tony ignored her.

"I don't remember it being ever that easy. This guy packs a wallop." She heard Rogers say.

To which Tony replied, "Still, you are pretty spry, for an older fellow. What's your thing, Pilates?"

Beth didn't think it was best if Tony acted like, well Tony, in their current situation but she kept silent. She knew it wouldn't change anything.

"What?"

Tony explained, "It's like calisthenics. You might have missed a couple things, you know, doing time as a Capsicle."

Beth sighed, "Oh boy."

Rogers seemed to ignore his jab however, "Fury didn't tell me he was calling you in."

"Yeah, there's a lot of things Fury doesn't tell you."

Suddenly, one of Beth's monitors began going haywire. She looked at the screen and saw that there was a sudden electrical storm forming around them.

"Tony, something's happening." She said urgently.

"Yeah, I see that..." he replied lowly.

Beth could hear the Captain speak to Loki, "What's the matter? Scared of a little lightning?"

Beth's stomach turned as she heard his aristocratic voice respond.

"I'm not overly fond of what follows..."

From one of the satellite's she hacked into, Beth saw something coming down fast on the quinjet.

"Tony, something right above you and closing in on you guys."

"Stark what are you doing?"

Beth's visual was back up as Tony activated his helmet again. It appeared what he was doing was opening the back hatch of the plane. A large man entered the aircraft and immediately went after Loki, grabbing him by his throat and then flying back out of the jet.

"Now there's that guy." Tony grumbled.

"Another Asgardian?" Beth heard a female voice question, which she could only guess was Black Widow.

Captain America then said, "think the guy's a friend?"

"Tony you need to stop Thor, we can't get the tesseract if we don't have Loki." Beth said through her headpiece as she pulled up all possible info on the God of Thunder.

Tony walked towards the ramp and spoke to Black Widow and Captain America.

"Doesn't matter. If he frees Loki or kills him, the tesseract's lost."

"How is that any different from what I just said..." Beth sighed as Tony prepared to jump out of the plane.

"Stark, we need a plan of attack!" The soldier said.

"I have a plan. Attack."

"You're such a drama queen, Tony." Beth said.

"No, I'm just awesome." Tony finally responded, "where did our reckless relic go, buttercup?"

"He should be right on that mountain top. And you really need to get me set up with the rest of the team. I don't like all of these one-sided conversations I end up having when you're playing with your friends."

"Awww,are you getting jealous?" Tony replied as he spotted the Agardians, "I got 'em."

"Ok Tony, approach them slow, you don't want to come off as a threat to this Thor guy. From what I can tell he can be a bit of a handful..."

She sipped her tea as Tony tackled Thor mid-flight.

"Naw, this tactic is better." She said as they crash in the forest.

"Don't touch me again!" Thor said angrily.

"Ok, Tony just-."

"Then don't take my stuff."

Beth threw her hands up in the air and looked around the empty penthouse.

"Why do I even try..."

"You have no idea what you're dealing with."

Beth shook her head as Tony said, "Shakespeare in the park? Doth mother know you weareth her drapes?"

Beth took off her headpiece and rubbed her face in irritation, "Oh boy..."

She watched the monitors in silence as Tony continued to bate the Asgardian. As she watched Tony walk away from him, thinking it was over, Thor threw his hammer at Tony knocking him into a tree. Beth scrambled to get her headpiece back on as Tony stood back up and blasted energy from his hand boosters. Suddenly Thor shot lighting at Tony. Beth looked at the monitors wide-eyed as they glitched out momentarily.

"Tony!"

"Power at 400% capacity." Jarvis said.

Beth sat back in her seat in disbelief as Tony said, "how about that?"

Tony fired a powerful burst of energy from his hand boosters, this time forcing Thor to his knees.

"Boys..." Beth muttered rolling her eyes after taking off her headset and getting up to go to the bathroom, "Hopefully when I get back, they'll be acting more like men."

When she came back, what looked to be a mile radius of trees were flattened and Captain America was standing in the center of it with Thor and Iron Man. Beth put her headset back on just in time to hear Captain America ask:

"Are we done here?"

"Now that was cool." Beth said smiling to herself.

In the Iron Man suit, her boss rolled his eyes.

"Please..."

As they flew back to the helicarrier with Loki in custody, Beth continued to ponder his scheme in Tony's ear.

"Seriously Tony, he had the chance to bolt when you and Thunder Chief were duking it out. Loki wanted to be caught."

As the quinjet approached the helicarrier, Beth said, "Oh, by the way. Your hacking implant, as soon as you activate it, I will be able to piggyback off of it to hack into the surveillance system on the helicarrier."

"Got it..." Tony mumbled he hung behind the rest of the group. He watched as Loki was escorted by a dozen or so S.H.E.I.L.D. Agents.

"Beth, while my decryption programmer does its work, I want you to keep looking for Selvig."

"But Loki-."

"We've got Reindeer Games under control. Find Selvig," Tony ordered.

"Yes, sir." Beth grumbled as she turned most of her monitors to scanning various cameras and video surveillance around the globe.

* * *

Beth was sipping another cup of tea when Stark finally activated the hacking implant. She immediately turned to one of the three screens that were linked to the impact. She flipped through the different cameras until she found the one pointed at Loki's cell. If talk, dark and handsome wasn't creepy enough, him staring directly into the camera was icing on the cake. The hackles on the back of her neck rose as he smiled. It was as if he knew she was watching.

She continued to scan and ID match on Selvig as she left the one monitor focused on Loki. She nearly jumped out of her skin when he spoke.

"Not many people can sneak up on me."

Beth looked at him and saw who he was talking to. It was Black Widow.

"But you figured I'd come."

"After. After whatever tortures Fury can concoct, you would appear as a friend, as a balm. And I would cooperate."

"I wanna know what you've done to Agent Barton." Black Widow said.

Loki smirked, "I'd say I've expanded his mind."

"And once you've won. Once you're king of the mountain. What happens to his mind?"

"Is this love, Agent Romanoff?" Loki asked leaning towards the glass.

Natasha stiffened, "Love is for children. I owe him a debt."

Loki sat down, "Tell me."

She pulled up a chair as well.

"Before I worked for SHIELD, I uh...well, I made a name for myself. I have a very specific skill-set. I didn't care who I used it for, or on. I got on SHIELD's radar in a bad way. Agent Barton was sent to kill me, he made a different call."

"And what will you do if I vow to spare him?" "Not let you out."

"Ah, no. But I like this. Your world in the balance, and you bargain for one man?" Loki laughed coldly.

"Regimes fall every day. I tend not to weep over that, I'm Russian... or was." Black Widow stated matter a factor.

"What is it you want?"

She shrugged, "It's really not that complicated. I've got red in my ledger, I'd like to wipe it out."

"Can you? Can you wipe out that much red? DRAKOV'S daughter? SÃO PAULO? THE HOSPITAL FIRE? Barton told me everything. Your ledger is dripping, it's gushing red, and you think saving a man no more virtuous than yourself will change anything?" He stood getting angrier, "This is the basest sentimentality. This is a child at prayer... PATHETIC!"

Beth watched him speechless.

"You lie and kill in the service of liars and killers. You pretend to be separate, to have your own code, something that makes up for the horrors. But they are a part of you, and they will never go away!"

Natasha and Beth both flinched as Loki slams his cell.

"I won't touch Barton. Not until I make him kill you! Slowly. Intimately. In every way he knows you fear! And when he'll wake just long enough to see his good work, and when he screams, I'll split his skull! This is my bargain, you mewling quim!" Natasha turns around, walks away from Loki, disgusted. Beth let out a breath as she lowered her eyes from the screen.

"You're a monster."

Beth looked back as Loki laughed, "No, you brought the monster."

Suddenly, Black Widow turned back around calm and poised, "So, Banner... that's your play."

"What?" Loki and Beth said confused and then Beth added as Natasha informed Fury of Loki's plan, "Oh she's good."

Chuckling, Beth turned back to her other screens and finally noticed that SHEILD detected their decryption program. Just as she was about to warn Tony, she saw Fury was already confronting him about it and then all her monitors went blank along with her earpiece.

"No, no, no, no! Not now!" She said trying to at least get her communications with her boss up and running. After multiple attempts, she pushed away her keyboard in frustration and then picked up her cell phone. She tightened her grip around it before hacking into Pepper's contacts and pulling up Agent Phil Coulson. She dialed the number and pressed the phone to her ear as she rubbed her queasy belly.

"This is Agent Coulson."

"Coulson! Beth Miller! I lost contact with my boss."

"Ah, Miss Miller. I thought I already told you that we don't appreciate you hacking into our system."

Beth stood up and began to pace, "yeah, yeah. I haven't called to apologize. Loki is planning to release the hulk and I think you need to get someone down to his holding tank and probably a really big gun."

"We've got everything under control, Miss Miller. Go pin things on Pinterest."

Beth looked at her phone angrily as Agent Coulson hung up on her.

"Asshole!"

Beth took a few deep breaths before putting her headset back on and called Tony on his cell.

"Hey, Buttercup! Now's not a good time." Tony said hesitantly.

"What's going on? I lost connection!"

"Under attack, don't worry, can't talk. Bye," Tony said quickly as Beth heard an explosion.

"What was that? TONY!" Beth listened to the call end with a click.

Suddenly her computer, which was still searching for Selvig, indicated that it has located him. She hurried to her laptop and looked at the screen.

"Shit," she said wide-eyed. She turned her head quickly as she heard the elevator bing announcing that the doors were about to open, "Fuck."

She ducked behind the bar as the doors opened. Beth clutched her knees to her chest as she heard Selvig walk through the room and outside to the roof. She quickly pulled out her phone to call and warn Tony, but to her dismay she saw her phone was dead.

"Seriously? You decide to die now?"

She looked around the bar at her laptop laying on the couch. She looked over at the door that Selvig had gone through. Just as she mustered the courage to go snatched her laptop, she heard the whir of the elevator making her duck back behind the bar again.

"Shit, fuck, shit, fuckity-fuck-fuck." she cursed to herself.

Beth bit her lip as she heard the doors open and peaked back around the bar to see Loki walk out of it and then saunter over to the balcony to watch Selvig work. It was about the time that Selvig got the device her was working on completely activated when she heard something that sounded an awful like Tony's Iron Man suit approaching. Beth couldn't help but sigh a sigh of relief.

She couldn't quite make out what Iron Man and Selvig were saying to each other, but she did see him shoot at Selvig's contraption and knock the older gentleman unconscious. She ducked back behind the bar as Loki turned and reentered the building with his scepter closely followed by Tony minus the Iron Man armor. Tony saw her and stepped closed to the bar.

"Please tell me you're going to appeal to my humanity." Loki said.

"Uh...actually, I'm planning to threaten you." Tony said like a smart-ass.

To which the god replied, "You should have left your armor on for that."

"Yeah, it's seen a bit of mileage. You've got the glow stick of destiny. Would you like a drink?" Tony said stepping closer to the bar.

"Stalling me won't change anything."

"No, no, no! Threatening. No drink? You sure? I'm having one." Tony came around the other side of the bar and stood closely to Beth sitting on the floor.

She looked up at him fearfully.

"The Chitauri are coming, nothing will change that. What have I to fear?"

"The Avengers," Tony looked up from the drink he was making. "It's what we call ourselves, sort of like a team. `Earth's Mightiest Heroes' type of thing."

"Yes, I've met them."

Tony smiled, "Yeah, takes us a while to get any traction, I'll give you that one. But, let's do a head count here. Your brother, the demi-God; a super soldier, a living legend who kind of lives up to the legend; a man with breath-taking anger management issues; a couple of master assassins, and you, big fella, you've managed to piss off every single one of them."

"That was the plan."

"Not a great plan. When they come, and they will, they'll come for you." Beth noticed as Tony pulled on his colantotte bracelets from underneath the bar table.

"I have an army."

"We have a hulk." Tony responded. He glanced down at her to make sure she was okay before walking around the bar towards Loki.

"I thought the beast had wandered off." "You're missing the point! There's no throne, there is no version of this, where you come out on top. Maybe your army comes and maybe it's too much for us, but it's all on you. Because if we can't protect the Earth, you can be damned well sure we'll avenge it." Beth slid across the floor to watch and saw Loki approaching Tony holding up the scepter, "How will your friends have time for me,when they're so busy fighting you?"

Loki tapped Tony on the chest with his scepter. Nothing. Confused, Loki tired again. Once again nothing happened.

"This usually works."

From behind, Beth saw Tony shrug.

"Well, performance issues. You know one out of five-."

Angrily, Loki grabbed Tony by the throat and threw him against the window. Beth clamped her hand over her mouth as the glass shattered.

Loki grabbed Tony by the throat again and said, "You will all fall before me."

With that, he threw Tony out of the window. From behind Loki, an elevator opened and a red pod shot out and dove after Tony. Loki looked up, angrily as Iron Man soared back up to the penthouse.

"And there's one other person you pissed off! His name was Phil."

Loki raised the scepter, but Iron Man fired at him, sending him on his ass.

Suddenly there was a sound like an eruption and a giant portal filled the sky. Alien creatures began pouring through it.

Tony turned and looked at the sky, "Right, army."

Beth hunkered back down behind the bar as he took off towards the portal.

Loki walked out onto the balcony seeming to admire the scene. Thor dropped down behind him and the God of Mischief turned.

Beth looked over at the exit, it was now or never. As the two Asgardians began to fight, Beth made a run for the elevator.

As she jammed the button, Beth turned just in time to make eye contact with Loki. Her sudden appearance seemed to catch him off guard and Thor used this moment to grab Loki and turn him towards the havoc.

As he shook his brother, the elevator doors opened and Beth hurried inside. The last thing she saw before the doors closed was Loki looking sadly at Thor and then at her.

The look she saw in his eye made Beth feel that maybe he wasn't completely lost after all. She gripped the side of the elevator as it defended, but then there was a terrible jolt and the lights and elevator ceased to function. Beth stood there petrified in the dark.

"Should have taken the stairs, Miller."

With no phone, or any other means of calling for help, Beth was stuck praying that she would be found and that the elevator wouldn't decide to plummet to the ground levels below.

Every quiver, every loud noise, Beth believed it might be her death. She sat curled in the corner of the elevator for what seemed like hours until finally, she heard something that brought her hope. Voices.

Soon the doors were being pryed open and through the small hole, Beth saw none other than Steve Rogers looking inside.

"Are you hurt, ma'am?"

Beth shook her head as she crawled forward and the captain reached through the small space and pulled her through. He held her firmly in his arms as her feet touch the ground.

"Boy, am I glad to finally meet you." She said before looking behind him and seeing Tony. She ran to him and hugged her boss.

He was caught off guard at first, but then gingerly patted her on the back.

She stepped away from him and said, "So I take it we won?"

"Yeah, buttercup, I suppose we did."

* * *

A few days later, Beth joined the other Avengers to watch as Thor transported Loki back to Asgard with the tesseract. Beth hugged the captain before he got on his motorcycle and rode away. She told Natasha to look out for Hawkeye as they went their own way and she shook Dr. Banner's hand before he got into Tony's convertible.

Tony looked at her, "Are you sure you don't want to come with us?"

She smiled and nodded.

"New York is my home. Besides, someone has to stay behind and make sure the tower gets rebuilt properly."

Tony smiled and handed her a key to the penthouse. On the keyring was a binky.

Beth looked at it confused, "what's this for?"

"I told the builders to put in a separate apartment in the tower for you. Don't worry, I told them to make it child friendly. It's yours if you choose to take it."

Beth beamed.

"Thank you Tony!"

Tony revved his engine.

"Don't mention it."


	3. Chapter 3

A year and eight months later, all of the Avengers assembled in the tower once more for the first birthday for Logan Anthony Miller.

Beth knew her little Logan was a little faster at learning than other babies his age. At 1 year, when most babies were beginning to say their first word, Logan already knew five. They were, "Mama," "Peppa," "Tony," "Jah-wis," and his most recent word/name was "Tor."

It was one his birthday when everyone arrived that Logan began screaming, "Tor, Tor, Tor!"

The Avengers looked at the laughing/screaming one year old moment to figure out what he was trying to say. It wasn't until Thor entered the room from the balcony that they realized that Logan was trying to say "Thor" and they assumed that he had seen the lightning that usually announced Thor's arrival.

It was as Thor picked up the happy baby and swung him around that a thought dawned on Beth, maybe Logan was developing faster because of his Asgardian heritage? She made a decision that she would ask the Asgardian if they got a moment of privacy together. The only people who knew who Logan's father was were now all standing in the room. Steve handed Beth a box with bright colored paper smiling; Natasha was tickling Logan underneath his chin as Thor held him proudly with one arm; Bruce was standing at a distance as Clint helped Pepper bring in the cake. Beth looked around.

"Where's Tony?" She asked.

"I think he said he was getting Logan's resent from the lab."

Beth went over to Thor and held her arms out to her boy who began saying, "Mama! Mama!"

"What a great warrior Young Logan will be!" Thor boomed proudly.

"But not for many, many years." Beth said as she let Logan scoot around on the floor at their feet. Natasha went to help Clint and Pepper with plates.

Beth turned to Thor.

"Actually, Thor, I wanted to ask you something..."

"You may ask me anything!"

"Is it common for children in Asgard, to know more than a couple words by their first birthday?"

"It was said that by my first spring I only had the ability to request more food."

Beth sighed looking down at her son. So he was just a smart baby, it seemed.

"But Loki was said to know many words. As expected of the Silvertongue," Thor paused seeing her reaction, "it seems Young Logan has inherited more than just my brother's eyes."

"It seems so..." Beth said as Logan reached for the mighty Moljner. Thor gave a booming laugh as he watched the baby slap the large hammer. Beth also gave a chuckle as her son looked up at them appearing to be pleased with himself.

Beth turned who attention to Tony who had returned from his lab with a large box in this arms. It looked heavy.

Logan looked over at Tony as he put the box down with a heavy thud. He pulled himself up into a standing position with the help of the coffee table. Beth smiled excitedly as Tony knelt down with his hands outstretched.

"Well, is today the day Lil' Buddy?" Tony said as Logan took a shaky step towards him.

Logan looked at his mom expectantly.

She went over to Tony's side and said, "Come on Logan."

Logan looked at all the Avengers who were watching him before he stepped forward on wobbly knees. He teetered about two feet from the couch and fell on his butt. Tony scooped him up and congratulated the baby for his efforts, before looking at the rest of the team.

"What?"

The other Avengers were smiling at him.

Steve shrugged, "Oh it's nothing. You're just always going on about how you don't like kids."

Tony scowled.

"I don't like kids. But I do enjoy this one." He turned back to the kid, "Are you ready to open your present from Uncle Tony?"

Logan looked up at Tony, then to the present and then shook his head.

"No?"

"Cake!"

Tony's face fell as the team laughed. Steve slapped him on the back, "Well I guess it's true what they say, Tony."

"And what's that old man?"

"You can't buy love." Steve said as Natasha picked Logan up and put him in his highchair and Beth lit the singular candle on the cake that Pepper had bought that said "Happy Birthday Logan!"

Black Widow looked over at Tony and Steve as Logan cheered, "cake! Cake! Cake!"

"The real way to a man's heart is through his stomach... regardless of age." She said with a chuckle.

The birthday celebration continued with cake and _then_ Logan decided he was ready to open presents. He first opened Steve's present, which turned out to be a teddy bear. Steve looked over at Tony smugly as Logan clutched this teddy bear lovingly as he tore open the other presents. Natasha had gave him a box of building blocks; Clint had bought a set of toy trucks; Pepper gave Logan an assortment of bath toys; Thor was disappointed when Beth confiscated the battle-ready sword he presented to the little boy:

"You don't give weapons to babies!" Beth scolded as Logan opened Banner's gift. It was a "100 First Words" baby book.

Banner shrugged as Logan dropped it in disappointment.

"I wasn't sure what to get him. Haven't had much interaction with kids."

Finally it was Tony's turn. He smirked at the captain, "Saved the best for last."

Beth helped Logan open Tony's gift and everyone was surprised (but at the same time not really) that it was a fully-functional, toddler-sized hover car. Logan looked at it excitedly as he dropped his teddy bear and climbed inside his newest gift.

Tony patted Steve on the back smugly, "Old fashioned toys aren't really my thing."

"It wasn't a contest," the captain said in disapproval.

Beth rolled her eyes as Tony nodded, "yeah... But I won."

Logan yawned and reached up to his mom to pick him up.

"Are you sleepy baby?" She said as she lifted him out of his hover car, "can you say goodnight to everyone?"

He snuggled closer to her breast as he gave a weak wave to all of the adults. Steve bent down, picked up the teddy bear, and handed it to boy.

Logan wrapped his arm around it before closing his tired eyes.

"Little champ," Steve said smiling as Beth took him off to bed. The Avengers stood there for a moment before Pepper clapped her hands together.

"Right, I'm going to start cleaning up."

"Sir, there's a Mr. Scott Summers and Professor Charles Xavier asking to speak with you and the other Avengers." Jarvis announced.

"At this hour?" Tony said in mock offense, "Tell them to come back in the morning! We're having a party!"

"Sir, they say it's urgent."

Tony looked at all of the Avengers who were just looking at him. Crossing his arms, Tony sighed, "send them up."

In moments, a man wearing red tinted glasses and another in a wheelchair joined the group.

"Pardon our sudden intrusion, Mr. Stark. I am Professor Xavier, also known as Professor X, and this is my colleague, Scott Summers, a.k.a. Cyclops. We are part of a mutant task force known as the X-men. We were hoping we could talk to you and your team about a most serious matter." The man in the wheelchair said in a British accent.

"What kind serious are we talking about Wheels?" Tony quipped.

The man in the glasses scowled stepping forward defensively, "Hey, didn't anyone ever tell you to respect your elders?"

"Didn't anyone ever tell you to call before coming to someone's house, Redeye?" Tony shot back not even trying to mask his annoyance.

"Tony," Steve said seriously before turning to their guests with an outstretched hand, "Sorry, he's always like this. Steve Rogers."

Cyclops tore his gaze off of Tony as he shook Captain America's hand.

"I take it you're the leader then."

"Yeah, Capsicle's our brilliant leader. I just you know, fund all the pretty gadgets and toys." Tony interjected.

"And you must be Thor, we heard a lot about you on the news." Cyclops said moving down the line.

Thor beamed, "Aye, surely you heard of my might and bravery in battle."

"If by might you mean leveling an entire town in New Mexico, then yes, you are indeed mighty."

"I'm sorry, did you come here to insult us, or was there some 'serious matter' you wanted to discuss?" Banner threw out from the corner.

Professor X sighed, "Yes, I apologize. We indeed have something to discuss with you all."

A metal ball floated from out of his chair and projected a hologram.

"Oh please... Holograms were so last season," Stark muttered under his breath.

"This is Magneto." Professor X stated as a projection of the X-Men's nemesis showed the mutant breaking out of a maximum security prison. Tony stiffened as he watched the helmeted man twist and bend apart the prison gate like it was made of putty, "He is a mutant, who as you an see, can manipulate metal and has a vendetta against the entire non-mutant population."

"But you have defeated this foe before. What does this have to do with us?" Thor questioned as he pointed at the hologram.

"We have reason to believe that Magneto has teamed up with someone who falls more under your jurisdiction." Xavier said nodding to the hologram. A blonde woman, dressed in green and gold Asgardian-esque garb stood there laughing as she cast mysterious orbs of green energy.

"Amora!" Thor proclaimed in disbelief.

"I take it you've met?" Captain America said folding his arms over his chest.

"Aye, she is a powerful-."

Thor paused as the professor raised his hand.

"There's no need to stand out in the hall, Miss Miller." The professor said.

Beth stepped into the room sheepishly.

"Sorry... I didn't want to interrupt."

The professor smiled as he held out his hand to shake hers, "You're too kind, but as an employee of Mr. Stark, I think it appropriate that you are apart of this conversation. Have a seat."

"Thank you..." Beth said shaking the older gentleman's hand and then sitting down. However, it felt awkward being told to sit down in her own house.

"As you were saying, Thor?" Professor X said turning back to the giant Asgardian.

"Amora, the Enchantress, she is a powerful sorceress from my home. If she has come to Earth, I fear what evil she has in mind..."

"A blonde magician in a mini-skirt. What's to fear?" Clint said leaning against the couch next to Beth, "It wasn't too long ago we beat up a similar threat and he had a bit more than a friend who could bend metal with his mind."

Natasha slapped his shoulder as she sat on the back of the couch, "I thought I taught you not to underestimate a girl with power."

"Amora's powers are far greater than Loki's, and her sense of right and wrong is even more skewed. We may need more help than just our alliance."

Thor looked down at Beth apologetically. The rest of the team began to object.

"Wait, wait, wait, what exactly are you suggesting?" Hawkeye snapped stepping towards Thor.

"You want to bring Loki, _here?_ To the same city that he nearly _leveled_ only a year ago?" Banner questioned.

Tony held up his hand, "To be fair, you leveled Harlem and we let you come back."

"You're on his side?! Why am I not surprised?" The captain said looking at Tony in annoyance.

Beth caught Cyclops lean towards the professor whispering, "I thought you said they were a team..."

Meanwhile, Tony was puffing out his chest at Steve.

"Thor is the only one who has gone head-to-head with this chick! If he says we need help, then I'm going to listen to him! I'm not thrilled that the only magic-wielder is Reindeer Games, but he's the only magic-wielder we know."

Beth pulled out her tablet and flipped through a compilation of known superheroes. She stood up when she found the person she was looking for.

"No he's not!" She said cutting into the argument between the Avengers.

She linked her tablet to Tony's virtual screen. Ever one looked at the man she was talking about.

"Doctor Strange?" Tony said flipping through her data on him, " _This_ jackass is our only other option?"

"We've worked with him before," Summers chimed in, "He's a complete recluse. We'd be lucky if he even considered helping us again."

Beth held her tablet to her chest, "It's worth a shot before we free Loki. Besides, he's local."

* * *

And that's how Beth got to where she was, standing in front of the residence of one Dr. Stephen Strange. She gripped her son's stroller tightly as she reached up and used the heavy door knocker. There was no doorbell. There was however a sign that said, "No Solicitors."

A grave-looking man in a tailored suit opened the door.

"Yes?" The man said looking suspiciously at her and then her son in the stroller.

"My name is Beth Miller. I was hoping to speak to Dr. Strange?"

The old man narrowed his eyes, "What business do you have with the Doctor?"

Beth was growing annoyed by the man's rudeness.

"I'm here on behalf of my employer, Tony Stark, and the Avengers."

"Go away!" The butler snapped before slamming the door.

Beth stood there blinking for a moment before scowled and hammering on the door.

She must have been beating on it for a full minute before the butler wrenched the door open.

"I'm not leaving until I speak to Dr. Strange!" She shouted at the old man.

Logan mimicked her by putting on a sour face and crossing his arms.

The butler scowled at her seeing that she wasn't bluffing. He opened the door wider and permitted her to enter.

"Don't touch anything," he snapped as he escorted her to a sitting room off to the side of the foyer. He watched as she sat down on a sofa before adding, "I will fetch the Doctor."

Beth rolled her eyes as she picked Logan up out of his stroller. He gurgled and giggled at her as she strolled around the room with him on her hip.

"Logan... logan, can you say plant?" She said pointing at a large leafy plant in the corner.

Logan scrunched up his face, "P... pan..."

"Pl-ant." Beth said sounding it out for him.

"Pant!" Logan said pointing at it.

"Pl-lant. Try again Logan, pullll-lllant."

"Pant! Pant! Paaaaant!" Logan sang happily.

"Close enough," Beth said sighing.

"Teaching your son that 'close enough' is good enough, Miss Miller?" a voice said from behind them.

Beth turned and saw a tall man in ornate clothing, a goatee, and slicked back, black hair with strips of white.

"Dr. Strange, I came here to ask-."

"Answer my question, Miss Miller." The doctor said walking forward with both his hands behind him.

"Excuse me?"

"Are you teaching you son that close enough is the same as good enough?" He reiterated as he stepped forward and smirked at her and Logan.

"No. He's a year old! I'll accept some temporary speech impediments." Beth said trying to not let her frustration get the better of her.

The doctor looked at her son curiously, "He has strange eye coloration. Inherited from the father, I can see."

"Doesn't seem right hearing that word from you of all people."

Dr. Strange looked at her, "What word would you prefer I use, Miss Miller? Unusual? Odd? Peculiar? Curious? Bizarre? They are synonyms for the same word, Miss Miller. Now, tell me what you wanted to ask."

"The X-Men have asked for the Avengers to help them take down Magneto and a woman known as the Enchantress. Thor has reason to believe we need help from someone with knowledge in sorcery. I came to ask if you'd be there person."

The doctor stroked his beard thoughtfully, "I was under the impression that the mighty Thor was related to such a person."

"He is. But Loki is currently locked away in an Asgardian prison."

"Precisely, which means he shouldn't be too hard to find..." He paused as he noticed Beth's grip tighten more protectively around her son. His eyes glittered with realization, "Ahhh... but you don't want to ask him because _that_ would lead to an awkward family reunion. Isn't that right, Miss Miller?"

"Will you help us-?"

"Tell me, Miss Miller, how does it feel raising the son of the man who wanted to rule the human race and killed thousands of your own species?"

"Will you help-."

"Answer my question, Miss Miller."

Beth blinked back hot tears, "My son has nothing to do with Loki. He's my son, not his."

The doctor reached out and touch her son's hand.

"Those eyes say differently."

Angry, Beth turned and put Logan in his stroller and began to head for the door.

"I'll help you, Miss Miller, but only as a consultant. I will not partake in any unnecessary toil."

Beth ripped open the door and pushed the stroller outside. As the door closed behind her, she wiped tears from her cheeks.

"Asshole." Beth immediately clapped her hand over her mouth as she looked down at Logan who was staring up at her with those bright green eyes.

"Mama?"

"It's okay, honey. Let's go home."


	4. Chapter 4

Back at the tower, Beth put Logan in his playpen and collapsed onto the couch. None of the superheroes were there and Tony told her she could have the day off, so Beth decided to watch a movie. It was a slapstick comedy she had been looking forward to watching for awhile. Able to hear Logan in his room through the baby monitor, Beth curled up with a blanket and started the movie.

At the end of the movie, Beth opened her eyes and looked around, she must have fallen asleep.

A cold chill ran through her because of how quiet it was. Beth looked down at the baby monitor. She sighed when she heard Logan giggle.

"What a sweet baby boy you are," a silky feminine voice cooed.

Beth's stomach flipped. She ran to Logan's bedroom and froze in the door. The Enchantress was standing in the center of the room holding her son.

"Amora..." Beth gasped grasping the door frame.

The Enchantress turned towards her smirking.

"And the little mother! I don't believe we've met."

"I know who you are. Let go of my son!" Beth said as Logan began to cry.

The Enchantress cast a spell on the baby as she stroked his cheek. He fell silent and rested his head on her shoulder peacefully.

"I don't think I can do that." She said stepping towards Beth, "I've grown fond of this baby, and I think I will keep him. Besides, with his heritage, don't you think it's better if someone, who understands what he's _capable_ of, raised him?"

"Let go of my son, you bitch!"

Beth reached out for her son protectively, but the Enchantress backhanded her away with such force Beth collided with the wall. She glowered up at the woman as she tasted blood in her mouth.

"I don't think so." The Enchantress said looking down at her with malice. Her expression softened and she smiled as she said, "Loved our little chat."

With a puff of green smoke, the Enchantress was gone. Beth broke down sobbing on the floor as she heard the elevator doors open. Tony, Steve, Bruce, Clint, and Natasha ran towards her.

"Beth! What's wrong?" Steve asked as he picked her up off the ground.

Bruce stepped forward and began to examine her face as Tony asked, "Where's Logan?"

"She took him. The Enchantress took him."

They turned as Thor punched the wall in a boiling rage.

"We will hunt her down and get Logan back! This I swear to you, Beth!" He said summoning mjolnir. He looked at the other avengers, "I must take my leave for Asgard."

"Thor..." Steve stepped forward, "Would _he_ be able to find this enchantress?"

Thor gave him a single nod before stepping out on to the balcony. There was a large beam of bright lighg, and then the God of Thunder was gone. Beth looked at Tony as Dr. Banner urged her to sit down in the living room.

"Doctor Strange says he will help as a consultant."

Tony nodded as Natasha handed Beth an ice pack.

"We may not need to consult him anymore."

Steve shook his head, "you say that, but can we really rely on Thor right now? He's got a lot on his plate picking up Loki's mess in what... Nine realms? I think it's safe to say we're on our own here. But don't worry Beth, we'll get Logan back."

* * *

In Asgard, Loki was reading within the confines of his cell. He smirked as he felt his brother approach.

"And what gives me the honor of having an audience with the mighty Thor?" Loki sneered as he walked towards the glass.

Thor looked a him with sadness, "I need your help, brother."

"We are not brothers!" Loki spat.

Loki could see that his words could still hurt Thor. But the other god continued, "Do you remember a Midgardian woman by the name of Bethany Miller?"

The God of Mischief was taken back by this sudden question, but he kept his composure as he taunted his brother, "Such an easy woman... Tell me, _brother_ , have you lain with her? When did you find the time? From what Odin said before sentencing me down here for the rest of eternity, it sounded like you'd be too preoccupied conquering realms and preparing for the crown."

Thor hit the glass of Loki's cell.

"Do not play games with me, Loki! She is in need of your aid!"

Loki narrowed his eyes at his brother suspiciously, "What are you not telling me, Thor?"

Thor lowered his fist to his side, "Amora has taken her child."

"And this concerns me, how?" Loki asked leaning towards the glass, he sneered maliciously, "Am I an uncle?"

Thor looked deep into Loki's cold green eyes.

"The nephew is mine, brother..."

Loki malicious sneer faltered.

"You're lying."

Thor looked at him, "Look in to my eyes, Loki, you know I'm not."

He looked in to his brother's eyes and indeed knew he was telling the truth. He sighed, defeated.

"What will you have me do?"

"Find the Enchantress, I know you know a spell that can."

Loki stiffened, "You want me to cast a tracking spell to find Amora. What do I get in return?"

"I will see to it that Father shortens your sentence." Thor said as though this was a generous offer.

"Do you take me as a fool?!" Loki seethed, "You want me to do you a favor in return for a mere promise?!"

"Loki, this is for the safety of your son! Surely, that is enough! I will have Father shorten your sentence, but I can't grant you your freedom!" Thor said holding out his hands apologetically.

Loki hit the glass angrily, "See to it that my sentence is shortened then! Only then will I find Amora!"

Thor's shoulders sagged.

"Aye, brother... I will do what I can..."

After Loki watched Thor leave, his kicked a chair out of anger. He cursed his selfish nature; Loki was so bent on being free, he couldn't do what he knew was best for his firstborn. Loki slumped down to the ground, fearing what he would do if Odin refused to shorten his sentence. As he sat in the confines of his cell, Loki cast a window into Midgard. He watched pitifully, as Beth accepted a warm beverage from the red haired woman. Loki could tell that she was distraught over losing her son, any mother would. He reached up and stroked the illusion's cheek. He frowned as he watched her place her fingers on the spot he just touched; she looked momentarily surprised and then sipped her drink. Loki shut the window and then turned his attention to more pressing matters. He closed his eyes as he focused his energy towards summoning the Enchantress.

In a matter of moments, the blonde witch was standing before him. Or at least a projection of herself was there.

She looked around amused, "My, my, my... Aren't we in a tough spot. Has daddy grown tired of your pranks, Loki?"

"Spare me, witch. Where's the boy?" Loki snapped.

"Whatever do you mean?" The Enchantress mused batting her eyelashes at him coyly.

Loki gave her a warning look.

She sighed, "You're no fun these days, Loki. Don't worry, the little babe is safe. I have to ask though... what did you ever see in _her_ _?_ And don't bother denying it, the boy looks just like you."

"I don't have to explain myself to you, Amora!" Loki hissed, "Why did you take him?

"For leverage of course," The woman looked down at her nails boredly, "How else could I get a leg up on your brother and his misfit friends? Speaking of which, I think I hear someone coming to check up on you..."

Loki waved his hand and dissolved his summoning spell. He looked over as Thor approached the glass.

"What word of my sentence?" Loki drawled.

Thor put his hands on his hips, "Father says that his sentencing was final. But I beg you Loki, for Logan's sake, help me find the Enchantress!"

Loki looked away from Thor, "Leave me."

"Brother..."

"LEAVE ME!" Loki bellowed as he turned his back on his brother.

Loki stood in his cell brewing over this news. He couldn't say that he was surprised by the Allfather's decision; he never did love Loki as he did his real son. Loki waved his hand and stepped through a curtain leading into Midgard. Or at least, a physical illusion of himself entered Midgard. Loki stood in the corner of what he could only guess was his child's nursery. Beth was there, her back was facing him, but he could hear her sobs. Hesitantly, Loki stepped forward and placed a soft hand on her shoulder. Her sobs lessened and without looking up from a teddy bear she was holding she said, "I felt you earlier you know..."

Loki's eyes widened at her easy deduction that it was him standing behind her.

"Rest assured, I'm not really here..."

She turned and looked up at him from the floor, "Thor told you, didn't he? "

As he pulled his hand away, she surprised him further by grabbing on to it. She had a determined fire in her eyes as she said, "His name's Logan."

Loki remained silent as he turned back to leave through the ghostly curtain.

"He has your eyes!"

Loki felt rattled as he stepped back into his real body. He clenched his fist as he stood there thinking. Finally he stepped towards the glass and pounded on it.

"THOR! THOR!"

Thor returned quickly and looked expectantly through the glass.

"Amora intends to use the boy as leverage against you and your heroes. The key to finding his location is with Beth."

Thor looked at Loki surprised.

"Thank you, Brother."

Loki seethed, "I am not doing this for you brother, but for Logan and Beth. Do not fail me."

Thor nodded and turned to leave. As he left, he paused, "I don't recall telling you the child's name."

"I don't recall telling you to take your time in finding him."

Thor turned and made haste to leave for the Bifrost. As he was about to leave the castle, he saw his mother and father watching him from the balcony.

"Another journey to Midgard, my son?" Odon said watching him.

"There is a boy, a baby, Arora the Enchantress has taken him and he is in need of my help."

"Lady Sif and the warriors three are in need of your help as well. Don't let your love for Midgard cloud your judgement. You _can't_ choose favorites between the realms, Thor. You must understand this to be a good king."

"Yes, Father."

Thor nodded to his mother who stood silently beside Odin.

Frigga could sense the turmoil in Thor as he left for the Bifrost. She placed a hand on her husband's arm, he smiled as he placed a hardened hand over hers.

"I think I will pay my other son a visit."

Odin's smile tightened into a firm line as Frigga left for the dungeons

He turned his attention back to the Bifrost as a beam of light cut into the sky.

* * *

Thor landed on Stark Tower with a grim look on his face. Steve Rogers was waiting for him.

"You're back alone."

"My stay is temporary, where is Beth?" Thor said walking passed the soldier.

Steve looked exhausted as he said, "in Logan's room."

Thor stopped walking as Tony entered the room. The Iron Man set down a silver tablet as he looked at him.

"Ah, the Lord walks amongth us."

Steve folded his arms over his chest.

"He's not staying."

Tony's brow furrowed, "What about Logan?"

"Loki has given you a way to find him. It is with Beth."

Tony looked surprised at this.

"It's with Beth? How is it with Beth? He was here? In my house?"

"Only an projection of him I assure you." Thor said. The three men turned as Beth stopped in the doorway.

"You're not going to help Logan?" Her question was barely of whisper, but the pain behind it spoke volumes.

Thor walked over to her and grabbed her arms firmly.

"I am needed in the other realms."

His eyes drifted to a mark on her shoulder; it looked like a hourglass turned on its side.

"Beth... Have you always had this mark?"

She looked at where he indicated, "mark?"

Tony and Steve came closer to look at the mark.

"Loki said the way to find Logan with you. This must be what he was referring to. I'm sorry I can't be of more assistance but I must take my leave." Thor said walking back out to the balcony.

Before any of them could protest, he was gone.

Beth looked at Tony and Steve confused, "How is a silly little mark on my shoulder supposed to help get my son back? Is this some kind of joke?"

Tony wrapped Beth up into a hug as he said, "Nobody's joking here, Beth. We'll get him back."

Beth looked over Tony's shoulder at Steve who was putting on his jacket.

"Where are you going?" Beth asked.

Steve looked at them soberly as he put on his baseball cap.

"You said that the only other magic wielder we know is willing to help. So let's go get his help."

Tony and Beth grabbed their coats and then followed Steve out of the apartment.

* * *

Meanwhile, in the Asgardian dungeons Loki stood contemplating his future.

"What troubles you, my son?" Frigga asked approaching his cell.

"I fear I may have regrets."

He turned and looked at her sadly, "Have you always truly loved me?"

Frigga pressed her hands to her heart, "Unconditionally."

"Even now?"

"Especially now."

Frigga sighed ad she held a hand up to the glass. Loki touched the other side and then she turned and left. Loki cast another window into Midgard and looked upon Beth as she the Iron Man and Captain America got out of a car. _Where was Thor?_

"I still wish Thor wouldn't have left." Beth said sadly.

The captain appeared more annoyed than sad about the absence of their comrade. Loki scowled suspiciously at Thor's absence. _Why wasn't he there?_

"Yeah... Not having his experience with Amora puts us at a greater disadvantage."

"Hey! I said we couldn't rely on Point Break! We'll figure this out," Tony said behind the wheel.

Loki exploded with rage. He threw a chair against the wall angrily. It splintered as he turned back to his window and closed it. _After all that effort Thor went through to get his help, he himself wasn't even going to look for the boy? The boy he claimed was his beloved nephew!?_

Loki beat the wall of his cell furiously with a leg of the broken chair, when that broke, he resorted to punching and kicking it. Only when the white surface grew red from his blood did he stop. A smile spread across his face as he watched the blood drip from his hands. At that moment, Loki realized that he had been a fool for believing that Thor actually cared for the child like his own and swore to get revenge on Thor in the sweetest way possible. The only problem was how.

* * *

Dr. Strange examined the mark on Beth's shoulder.

"It appears to be fused with magic."

Tony rolled his eyes, "Yeah, we guessed _that_. Thor said we could use this to find Logan. Tell us how!"

The doctor looked at Tony in annoyance.

"I need to extract it. But I warn you, it will be painful." Strange said the last part to Beth.

Beth held the back on the chair she was resting against.

"Just do what you need to do to get my son back."

Steve sat across from her and held her hands as Tony leaned against the door frame. Dr. Strange rested his hand over the mark, a yellow glow began to resonate from his palm. Beth immediately felt a tugging sensation on the spot accompanied by an uncomfortable burning. She hid her face in the crook of her other arm as she gripped Steve's hands tighter.

"You can do it, Beth." Steve said reassuringly.

He could see Dr. Strange's yellow force tethered to an emerald green one. It looked as if the two forces were playing a game of tug-o-war. Beth groaned as the green light began to recede back into her flesh.

"Fight it, Beth! Do it for Logan!" Steve said.

"No! Don't fight it! Relax, Miss Miller! Relax!" The doctor ordered.

She gasped in pain as he pulled back hard. The green force sprung out of the mark making Beth scream.

"Hey! Was that really necessary?!" Tony shouted at him as he wrangled the green energy. He and Steve both went to Beth who was slumped over and panting. The mark was still visible on her arm."

"Yes."

"Why is it still there?" Tony asked touching briefly.

The doctor handed Steve a jar containing the green force.

"It will probably always be there now. Consider it a brand with Loki's name on it."

Tony looked at him horrified. Steve looked confused and slightly sick. Beth pulled up her sweater to cover it.

"Great, I always wanted a tattoo of an ex's name," She grumbled.

Dr. Strange chuckled at her sarcasm, "It's a little more than that."

"Whatever..." Beth said as she reached for the jar, "Let's go get Logan."

"Whoa, whoa, whoa." Tony said holding her away from the jar, "You're staying here."

"We'll go get Logan." Steve said still holding the jar.

Beth gaped at them.

"Absolutely not! I'm going too! I want my son!"

"And you'll have him soon enough, but it's not safe for you to go. We'll go get Banner and Natasha, then use this to find him."

Beth opened her mouth to protest but the doctor grabbed her head with a hand radiating yellow light. Her eyes fluttered and then she was unconscious.

Steve looked at him in disapproval, "Now was _that_ necessary?"

The Doctor looked at him as Tony deposited Beth onto the sofa.

"Yes. She was never going to let you leave without her. Now go, I'll watch over her."

The two men looked at him hesitantly before heading for the door. Tony turned back as they stepped outside.

"Hurt her, and I'll hurt you back."

Just open the jar when you're ready to find Logan and the Enchantress." The doctor said in annoyance before shutting the door. He walked back into the room Beth was sleeping in and draped a blanket over her. After that, he deposited himself in a chair and began to read.


End file.
